Dear Short-Term Let Delivery Group,
I was invited by Fiona Campbell of the ASSC to take part in the STL consultation workshop on 2nd October but I was unable to attend unfortunately, hence why I’m emailing you.
I understand that you are anxious to get this right, so I want to share my own extensive knowledge and experience. I doubt there’s anyone in Edinburgh who understands short term letting here as well as I do. There are many things in the consultation which I agree with – safety and stopping overcrowding being the mains ones and in fact when I first read it, I hoped that this could be a way to stamp a professional mark on my industry. Over the past couple of years, I’ve spoken at a conference organised by The Cockburn Association and been interviewed by the BBC, The Times and The Guardian about short term letting in Edinburgh. No one from the Scottish Government has ever been in contact with me to talk to me about my industry.
I’ve been involved in short term letting in Edinburgh, through my business, Dickins, for 23 years. I have an office on Dundas Street and today employ six people including myself. I say today, because after the end of October, that may not be the case. I pay taxes and my business also supports housekeepers, window cleaners, plumbers, heating engineers, handymen etc. In those 23 years, I’ve witnessed huge changes in my marketplace. But I have never felt concern like I do today.
In this moment, with Covid19 decimating the travel and tourism industry in cities across the whole world as well as here in Scotland, you’d hope as an impacted local professional business that the Scottish Government would have your back. But, instead of having our back, it feels like you have this industry, which contributes £50m to the local economy and £723m across the whole of Scotland, down on the ground with a boot on our neck. In the coming months you’ll decide whether to give it a final shove, extinguishing the life from it completely. It’s quite extraordinary when you think about it. Scotland’s own Government seeking to damage its tourism and hospitality industry.
My concerns are numerous and widespread:-
I started my business letting homes for the Festival 23 years ago. What we do in Edinburgh is fairly unique. We haven’t gone down the route of very short stays booked via portals. We believe strongly in the need for balance. We understand and respect the needs of residents, because we’re residents here too. We understand that a delicate balance is required between the needs of residents, business and visitors to the city so that it works for everyone.
The following things are and have always been the case for Dickins.
In the past couple of months we have housed:-
Some of these guests have stayed in homes with their own front door and others are staying in homes within stairwells. They want to rent a home from us which is fully equipped and where the price is fully inclusive so they don’t need to set up any utilities etc. They also want and indeed need, to be able to plan ahead and the long term letting alternative does not allow for that.
Currently I’m talking to the following people who want to book in advance:-
It would be completely insane for Edinburgh if these people above were not able to stay in homes with us. What is your plan for where they would be able to stay if Edinburgh Council does not allow non PRT lets in stairwells?
The Festival is an area of major concern for me. I provide all the apartments for the Edinburgh International Festival, as well as working closely with performers and major venues. The International Festival office and Fringe venues all book accommodation for more than 28 days for their staff – often it’s around 8 weeks as they need to be here for the set up and take down too. Performers who are here for the whole month, tend to book accommodation for 31 nights and not 28. There seems to be no provision for this within the proposed regulations. Where are you thinking these people working and performing in the festival should stay? The Festival is already facing a housing crisis but your proposals could mean that it just can’t function. Here’s a blog I wrote on the festival housing crisis in 2019. https://www.dickins.co.uk/blog/news/the-crisis-threatening-the-future-of-the-edinburgh-festival/
The Old Town has changed and evolved since it was built. The Canongate, built containing huge houses of important people, fell into decline after the Act of Union diminished the need to be near Holyrood. It then went into decline and by the 1930’s this once great street had become a slum. The tourists came along and the area is regenerated again. The decline in the desire of locals to live in the Old Town has been happening over the past 25 years.https://www.dickins.co.uk/blog/news/tourism-and-edinburgh-what-future/ It’s not a practical place to live now. There are so few facilities for residents. What studies have been done to demonstrate a significant demand from people to live in the Old Town if many more apartments became available to let long term? The home I mention in my blog above which was closed down by Edinburgh Council has gone on to be rented by students. How is that a good result? Students have so much housing provision already.
During Covid, we’ve all thought differently about our homes as we’ve spent so much time in them. Having outdoor space has never been more important. Everyone looking at a potential new home will think, could I do a lockdown here? I cannot see any basis where the demand to live in the Old Town will increae. I think the opposite will be true. In Edinburgh we have a unique opportunity to maintain a life in parts of our cities where residents prefer not to stay, supporting many local businesses as visitors tend to eat out and spend money in a way they don’t when they’re at home. In that respect, we’re the envy of so many city centres which do not have the potential/demand for life in their city centres in the way that Edinburgh does. We have a solution to this problem. And it would be ironic if we take that solution and smash it with a sledgehammer.
I find it exasperating, that me and my professional team, our owners and guests are being thrown in the same pot and treated in the same way as people renting vastly over occupied flats to stag and hen nights for two nights at a time like this https://www.henedinburgh.com/ It’s exasperating as we couldn’t be coming at this from a more different perspective. But I don’t feel at all confident that you understand that. Do you understand the huge differences between professional operators like me and private individuals using portals to maximise profit? Reading endless negative press about my industry is depressing too, because so many people I see around me are doing a world class job. Look at the ASSC and everything they do so professionally and with such rigour. Just look at the way as an industry we have nimbly reacted to the significant responsibilities we now face with cleaning and Covid19 providing safe places for people to stay and holiday. Your proposed legislation is all about solving so called problems with my industry. But how many of those problems have been verified as being true? So much change is being demanded based on anecdotal hearsay and potential grievance.
This is feedback from a guest we’re helping with accommodation during an insurance job on her home.
“Thank you for being so accommodating to my needs. It is greatly appreciated. Albeit this has been a stressful time for me, your help and superb accommodation has been very much welcomed!”
There are solutions which will ensure safety, allow Edinburgh to continue to flourish, allow our world class tourism and hospitality sectors to recover and thrive again. Solutions that support jobs and livelihoods, our economy, the lives of residents. Scotland is a country that people love and will always want to visit. But they want to have a choice of where they stay. If the Scottish Government and Edinburgh Council creates legislation that means they no longer have choice, many thousands will choose to go elsewhere in the world and the impact on our nation will be seismic and long lasting.
In this email I have highlighted the huge potential for unintended consequence with this legislation, especially as it is being so unnecessarily rushed.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I’d be delighted to speak to you if you felt that was useful. I hope that I’ve highlighted aspects of the implications of this legislation which you may not have considered and will consider making changes before it is too late.
Kind regards,
Louise Dickins
Managing Director, Dickins